


Will Be Fine

by LittleSweetCheeks



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: AU, Comfort, Gen, Hugging, Hugs, Hurt, Major Character Injury, Prompt Fill, Team as Family, friendships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-30 07:28:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10872015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSweetCheeks/pseuds/LittleSweetCheeks
Summary: Prompt Fill for the Prompt:Person A: “You could offer to give him a hug.”Person B: “I could. But then you’d be a team member down.”





	Will Be Fine

The poor vest was a mess. Rossi had joked solemnly, in an attempt to break some tension, that it had earned a proper line-of-duty funeral and its photo on the Wall of Heroes. Hotch had managed to hear, though no one was quite sure how, and had threatened to fire him. With detail.

And sadly, the vest wasn’t the whole story. After an ambush hit by a twelve gauge shotgun that had knocked them of their feet, the wearer of said vest had been jumped while they were down and catching their breath, and the beating had started. Their sidearm had been recovered later from under a cabinet where it’d clattered away. No one could quite agree on what went down in the struggle.

When it was all said and done, the agent had taken another two rounds from a handgun to the vest, this time at close range and to the back, before the unsub acquired a single shot to the forehead compliments of back-up who took the shot with a prayer and crossed fingers. Sometimes keeping them alive to stand trial simply wasn’t in the cards.

It had taken two EMTs and four irritated agents to wrangle the battered one onto a gurney and into the back of the ambulance. Five hours and a full set of x-rays later, the damage was announced. The shotgun shot had caused widespread bruising to soft tissue and several small hairline fractures to ribs. The beating resulted in one very black eye, bruising to cheek and jaw, and a cracked tooth besides the split lip and broken nose. The two shots to the back had also bruised soft tissue as well as managed to bruise one kidney and two ribs.

Ice, high-octane pain killers, and lots of taking it easy were prescribed. Emily had snorted when the doctor had given that instruction.

The team piled onto the jet to make the five-hour flight home. Rossi gave his friend a hard glare that sent him to the couch without so much as an argument. JJ dug out pillows and blankets to help him get comfortable as he possibly could when every side of him was bruised and banged up while Reid tracked down a bottle of water and some crackers.

Aaron Hotchner look like he’d been through the wringer, and he supposed he had. It’d been years since he’d taken that sort of beating. He hadn’t missed it in the least. Despite his best efforts to find a comfortable spot lying down, take-off and then turbulence jostled him around, causing a pain-filled groan he couldn’t manage to bite back at every bump. He could feel five pairs of eyes staring at him so he kept his own firmly shut. No need to encourage them to fuss any more than they already had.

Morgan watched his boss before leaning over the large chairs to speak softly to the others. “He looks like shit.”

JJ reached back and smacked his arm. “You would too if you’d been through what he has.  Be nice.”

“I’m just sayin’, maybe we should have waited a day before flying back.  Would a day have hurt anything?” He shook his head. “Did anyone even check with the doctor that he explicitly was okay to fly today?”

Emily turned in her seat to peek at their leader between the chairs. “He’ll be fine; he just needs a couple weeks to heal.”

Morgan snorted. “Weeks? Try a month. A least.”

“What he really needs.” Reid stopped and shook his head.

“What?”  JJ asked, prodding him.

“I can’t imagine wrangling Jack is going to be easy with those injuries.  Not to mention seeing his dad’s face like that might scare him which will only devastate Hotch.” He swallowed.

“So what do you suggest?” Emily pressed.

“I have no idea.” Something came to him and he gave her a conspiratorial grin. “You could offer to give him a hug.”

One manicured eyebrow slid up while three other team members tried to hide their chuckles, “I could. But then you’d be a team member down.”

The chuckles gave way to barks of laughter before everyone quickly silenced and glanced to the other end of the jet to be sure they hadn’t woke Hotch up.

“Hugging stimulates the vagus nerve which increases oxytocin which can decrease stress levels and heart rate. It helps with all sort of healing processes because it relaxes you and actually studies have found it increases a sense of trust in yourself and in those around you.” He stopped for a breath and Morgan reached across and covered his mouth.

“So what you’re saying is a hug will make him feel better.”

Reid nodded and licked the hand over his mouth, causing his friend to pull back with a yelp. “Yes.  So who’s going to offer?” He eyed Morgan who was wiping his hand on his shirt.

“Not me, man. I’m not gettin’ in his personal space. I like my job.”

Everyone turned to look at the person most likely to ignore Hotch’ boundaries.

“Nope, leave me out of this.” Rossi raised his hands. “You’re on your own.”

All eyes landed on JJ, who rolled hers. “I have an idea. Can this little show wait till we land?” When the others nodded, she pulled out her phone.

==

Morgan and Emily descended the jet steps first, carrying their own bags plus extras.  Rossi followed next, grumbling, with Reid right at his heels.

Penelope gasped as Hotch appeared in the opening, JJ at his side. “Oh my lord and the angels above! How are you even standing upright looking like that?”

Hotch hesitated for a split second mid-stride down the narrow steps at the unexpected presence of their technical analyst. “It’s not as bad as it looks, Garcia.” He winced as his face moved while he talked. Her almost heartbroken look pulled at something inside him. “I’ll be fine.”

“Ah! You’ll _be_ fine, which means you are not, in fact, fine now.” When he reached the last step, she moved in, taking advantage of his surprise. “I will hug you and you will not fight me because you know it will only hurt and then you will be letting us help you until you are better, do you understand? There will be none of this ‘I’m fine’ crap, you are in pain and broken and bruised and you need us, your family.” She waited for the look of resignation before closing in the final steps and wrapping him in a big hug.  Finally, after he returned the gesture, she stepped back. “Are you supposed to be picking up Jack today?”

“Umm, yeah.  I need to call Jessica.” He gingerly worked at retrieving his phone from his jacket pocket.

“Tell her Boy Wonder is picking him up. We’ll help you get settled and we’ll talk to him with you. That way he won’t worry about his Dad.”

Hotch hesitated with his thumb on the speed dial button and glanced at the rest of the team who were eavesdropping badly by the SUVs and then at Garcia, who never met them at the airstrip, putting together that they must have called her. “Thank you,” he said to no one in particular.

 


End file.
